Change of Heart
by amorae
Summary: Sakura admits to Sasuke once more, but after not getting a reaction from him storms into the woods angrily. Sasuke begins to muse what the strange feeling in the pit of his stomach is...and he doesn't want to admit it. FLUFFY SakuSasu ONESHOT


-grins- This is for my wonderful friend wolves-eye (Gianna xD). She gave the story idea as well as the title. I LUFF YOU SO, GIRL! -hugs her tightly- I've been itching to write a SasukexSakura oneshot for...pretty much a year now. But I just actually started liking the show and not just the couple, so I had to get a LOT of information from her. She won't tell me what's wrong with it though. T.T -swats- But I'm forever grateful to her and...yeah.

Anywho, don't worry my loyal DP fans, this only took an hour out of my time. -laughs- xD

BTW--THIS TAKES PLACE AFTER SAKURA CUTS HER HAIR BUT BEFORE SASUKE GET BANNED. -nods-

**I do not own Naruto...lol but I love her stowy lines. **

Here you go. xD

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Team seven dug into their lunch with great enthusiasm, hungry after the hard and difficult practice they had just endured. Haruno Sakura sat next to Uchiha Sasuke, staring at him wistfully, almost forgetting about the ramen in her lap. She was reminded about it when Uzumaki Naruto looked up from his bowl, cheeks bulging as if he were a chipmunk, and reached over to her bowl. She brought her fist down on his head, her short pink hair swaying slightly at the movement.

"Ow, Sakura!" Naruto muttered, rubbing her head. "That wasn't nice." Sakura stuck her tongue out at him and returned to gazing helplessly at Sasuke, who went on eating his ramen, seemingly oblivious to her burning eyes.

Naruto slurped the rest of his ramen messily and stood up. He stretched and yawned widely, his eyes closed in heavenly relaxation. "I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Naruto declared, walking away from Sasuke and Sakura. Neither paid attention to him as he walked off, humming tunelessly.

Sakura bit her lip and looked away from Sasuke, unsure of how much more shunning she would be able to handle. As every other female in the Ninja Academy, she had a major crush on him; anyone with eyes could see that, but for some reason Sasuke was oblivious to the many girls who followed him day and night. Sakura always hoped that maybe he would wake up to _his _undying love for _her_, but she knew deep within her that it would never happen; Sasuke was determined, and anything that threw him off his path to kill his brother was bad according to him.

But still she tried, hoping that maybe she wouldn't be a distraction; maybe they could work it out so Sasuke wouldn't worry. "Uhm, Sasuke?" she asked, her voice sounding small and insignificant in her ears.

Sasuke didn't turn to look at her, nor did he even signal that he had even heard Sakura; he continued bringing his chopsticks to his lips and eating, ignoring Sakura completely. Sakura fingered the edge of her dress nervously and kept her soft green eyes glaring at her half-empty bowl. "Sasuke?"

Sasuke didn't respond once more. Sakura bit her lip and raised her eyes slightly upwards towards him. "It's a pretty day, isn't it?" She backed down from her original intention—to just blurt it out and hope for the best. Sasuke was silent still.

"I love it when the sun's out," she rambled on, leaning back on her knees slightly, her arms behind her back. "It always makes me so happy. Doesn't it make you happy, Sasuke?"

Still she got no response. She fought back a sigh. Talking to Sasuke was always so hard. All she wanted was him to tell her _something_ instead of these uncomfortable silences that always filled the air after she asked him something. She decided to take a different tactic.

"Training's been difficult lately," she said, looking at him.

Sasuke's deep grey eyes flitted to her, annoyance ringing in them. His eyes narrowed as he glared at her slightly, only to turn away a split second later to look back down at his bowl. Well, at least he acknowledged that she was there; that was more than she could say for the other times she had attempted to tell him she loved him.

She looked down, wounded, ripping her lip to shreds. He was being so mean, she decided with an inward sigh. Why was he always so mean to her? She decided that she would jump into her confession, even though that would embarrass her more than she could imagine. She took a calming breath and jumped forward, closing her eyes as she spoke.

"Sasuke? I need to tell you something," Sakura mumbled, opening her eyes, suddenly almost embarrassed that she was trying this. Why _was_ she trying this? She knew Sasuke didn't like her, and there was no _way _Sasuke would like her. There were so many other girls who liked him. What made Sakura more special? Just because she was in the same team as him she hoped she had even the slightest chance with him. But why would he like a big foreheaded admirer? There were girls that were much prettier that loved him also. Sakura just felt that she had the biggest crush on him, which might as well have been an opinion because she sure as heck wasn't Ino or one of those girls—and she didn't want to be, either.

Sasuke didn't give her any note that he had heard her, but Sakura dove into her confession anyway, grasping desperately at the dwindling strings of confidence that was now sinking away from her. "Sasuke…I love you!"

His chopstick hovered in mid-air around his chest as his dark eyes glared at Sakura once more. His posture stiffened slightly, his eyes darkening. Sakura raised her eyes to look at him, hoping to find a trace of kindness or—in her dreams—love. Dark eyes met light eyes, burning passion met undying determination. The few seconds Sasuke stared at her seemed magnified in Sakura's mind. She hoped that maybe, just maybe, he was realizing that he liked her; but her dreams were crushed horribly when Sasuke looked away, disgust tugging the lines in his face angrily.

Sakura was speechless. He had gotten her hopes up…much more than normal…only to look…_disgusted_?

Angry at herself more at him—_how could I have been dense enough to actually believe for one second that maybe this one time would be different_? she scolded herself—she stood up and knocked her ramen to the grass. Sasuke seemed slightly startled at her bizarre reaction. After all, normally she grew woebegone and depressed after he turned her down; she had never stood up in rage.

"Sasuke…you…you…ugh!" Sakura shouted, her hands balling into fists tightly, her nails cutting crescents into her palms.

Sasuke remained indifferent, going back to eating his ramen rather than try to confront Sakura and ask what the strange reaction was all about. She knew he didn't like her, yet she tortured herself constantly by mooning over him and admitting it so many times. It was stupid and childish, Sasuke decided.

Sakura glared down at him, anger controlling her senses. "You're so oblivious, Uchiha Sasuke!" She tried to fight back the tears that threatened to spill out of her eyes, but she couldn't. She turned away from the one person she cared about the most and ran into the woods, covering her face in shame.

Speechless and perturbed, Sasuke put down his bowl and stared after the running Sakura. He was confused, even though he didn't want to admit it to himself. That was a very uncharacteristic thing for Sakura to do. It was strange, to say the least, that she had gotten so worked up over this admittance. Sasuke had normally ignored her desperate 'Sasuke, I love you's,' and Sakura had never run off into the woods in a fury. It disturbed him.

He sat on his knees, mulling over the reasons why Sakura would do that. What confused him most was that he cared so deeply. Of course he _cared _about her; he cared about the idiot Naruto, no matter what everyone else thought. But even in this circumstance, if Naruto ran off into the woods in a huff, his legs wouldn't be itching to run in after him to try to comfort him. It was unnatural of him to want so desperately to hug her after seeing her wounded expression.

Flinching slightly, he pushed the only sensible reason out of his mind. _No_. He didn't like her; he _couldn't _like her. She would just be a distraction when he went to finally kill Itachi. If he had anyone that he was even slightly attached to, when he went into the final fight between him he'd back down or wouldn't fight as fiercely for fear of dying. But he couldn't let himself get attached to anyone; the consequences would be he would surely get himself killed.

But what was this horrible feeling in his gut, this light fluttery feeling in his chest? He wanted to gag, to claw at himself, do what ever it took to get the feeling _away_ from him; yet at the same time it made him slightly happy. He knew what the romance writers would call it. But he didn't want to admit that the last surviving person in the famed Uchiha Clan—other than the one who had killed the entire damn clan—was feeling…feeling as if they were in _love._

It was so typical. Every teenager thought that they were in love at some point or another. It was a stupid human emotion that could only lead to tragedy, sadness, and ultimately—for him, at least—death. When teenagers felt they were in love, they would let their hearts swell from their chests in desire, only to one month later be shunned by the one person that was constantly on their minds. Then a few days, weeks, or months later, they'd find someone else that they felt they loved and would go into the whole cycle again, give or take a week or what ever.

It was a vicious and sick cycle that Sasuke refused to be apart of.

Yet, as he wrung his hands in circles nervously (something he didn't know he was doing; if he did, he would have sat on his hands to stop them from doing it), he let his eyes dart to the forest angrily. Why couldn't she just come _back_; just to let Sasuke know she hadn't run into a ninja from another village or another team? If he just knew she was safe then he could continue ignoring her—as well as his—feelings.

_No, don't you dare go into the forest, _he told himself firmly. _Don't go and admit that you like her; don't do it. _

_But what if she's hurt_? he fought back mentally, trying desperately to find a way into the forest without admitting to himself the true reason why he was chasing after Sakura. He had to go into the forest if he truly believed she was in danger; and even though he knew she wasn't, he forced himself to believe that she was.

Standing up, he left the lunch unguarded and walked into the forest. He only needed to search for a few moments; he found Sakura sitting on a moss-eaten log, drying her wet eyes quietly, her shoulders heaving as she sighed heavily.

Treading carefully, he stepped over leaves, twigs, and rocks, anything that would tell Sakura that he was there. He wanted her to find out on her own; it would be too embarrassing to step on a _twig_ and have her look up from that. After all, ninja's were taught very strongly in the field of surprise.

Her pink hair fell into her face softly, covering all but the tip of her nose from Sasuke's vision. Sasuke had to admit that she was beautiful; she didn't have _that _big of a forehead, after all. He slapped himself mentally for thinking anything like that. He had to stay focused; he couldn't let himself fall in love with the one girl he cared about the most.

"He'll never like me," she sighed quietly. Sasuke stopped, his foot resting just above the ground. He brought it back carefully, deciding to let her vent before going to check up on her.

He wanted to turn around and stalk back to the camp, or at least a part of him did. But some part of him kept him rooted to the ground, watching Sakura through love-sick eyes. It was depressing, or at least to him. He had tried to hard to ignore all human emotions other than rage, anger, and determination. Yet here he was, watching a stupid girl cry her eyes out over him. And what was even sicker in his mind was that it sent daggers more painful than any other wound he had received through his heart.

"I can't believe I was so stupid to actually even _dream _he liked me," she sniffed. She closed her startling green eyes and turned to look at the tree beside her (she was looking the opposite direction from Sasuke). Sasuke, fearing being caught, leapt silently behind a boulder and stuck his head out to stare at Sakura.

"Of course he doesn't like me. I'm not pretty! I'm just a stupid Genin who's too hopeful." Her shoulders heaved, the red sleeves of her dress loose against her pale arms. "I can't believe I was dense enough to even hope."

Sasuke winced; he didn't know he had affected her quite so harshly.

But of course he didn't really care…

Sakura looked over at the boulder, but Sasuke was well hidden behind it so she couldn't see him. She lowered her eyes once more and traced little patterns—Sasuke thought they were hearts with X's through them—against the mossy tree.

_What the hell am I doing_, Sasuke moaned inwardly. _I'm crouching behind a boulder watching a melancholy girl draw hearts on a tree. What would any enemy do if they saw me like this? They'd probably laugh and attack. Get a grip, Uchiha Sasuke; if you tell her you like her also (which you do not), then it will only spell out trouble for her. And you can't endanger her life anymore than you already have._

"Why _would_ he like me?" she mused, her eyes still glaring at the dozens of hearts with X's she had traced. "I have such a big forehead he would probably bump into my head if we even got too close."

That, for some reason, made Sasuke flinch. She didn't have _that_ big of a forehead; it was only slightly larger than the normal person's. Whoever had made fun of her that first time was an idiot, Sasuke decided rather bitterly. Her forehead was pretty.

Sasuke dug his fingernails into the skin on his knee at the last thought. _Shut up!_

It was getting harder and harder for him not to jump up and just hug her. The longer he stared at her, the more he felt as if he really did love her as much as she loved him. As depressing as that seemed to Sasuke, he was starting to give in—slightly—to the feeling. After all, it didn't feel _too _bad…

"Why can't he just forget about revenge and admit that he must like _one_ person?" she nearly shouted, looking up at the canopy of trees.

_And that tears it! _Sasuke stormed in his head. He stood up angrily, causing Sakura's head to whip around—rather painfully—and her eyes to grow wide as dinner plates as she stared at the now stalking Sasuke. He stalked up to her and glared down at her, his dark eyes burning holes into her.

"You idiot," he growled. "Of course I'm vengeful! Wouldn't _you _be if you had a sister and she killed your whole entire damn family?" Sasuke's fingers itched to grab her by the scruff of her neck and throw her into a tree, but his heart screamed at him not to, much to his displeasure. Besides, he didn't want to cause her pain—at least not intentionally.

Sakura didn't really seem to mind the glare, though. Sasuke had already backed up, breathing rather heavily. "You followed me into the woods?"

"Of course I did," Sasuke snorted. "You could have gotten yourself killed, the way you were just sitting there and screaming all your woes to the sky."

Her eyes softened slightly as she looked down at her fingers, embarrassed. "You heard everything I said?"

"Everything," Sasuke said gruffly. Sakura couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her face, even though she knew it would piss Sasuke even further off.

"You care about me, don't you?" she asked, almost too quietly for Sasuke to hear. Sasuke was momentarily thrown off track by the strange question, but quickly gathered up his usual cockiness and glared down at her.

"Of course I do. You're in my team." Sasuke couldn't stop the words before they flowed out of his lips. He liked Sakura and Naruto believing that he did care about them, but not enough to follow them into a forest.

_Why did I do that? _

_Because I love her._

Scowling at the last thought, he looked at her nearly blissful face. She was ecstatic at the mere fact that Sasuke cared about her; that displeased Sasuke even further than he already was. How could he deal with dieing if he knew he was leaving someone behind who cared so deeply about him; someone he cared as deeply back for?

Sakura stood up and hugged Sasuke, squealing. "I knew it! I knew you liked me best!"

"What the hell?" Sasuke grumbled against Sakura's shoulder. He wanted to push her away, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Something was holding him back, and he wasn't exactly sure what it was. Giving in, he realized it was because he didn't want to hurt her more than he already had.

She pulled away, her hands up near her chest in happiness, her face pulled into a wide grin. "Yay!" she exclaimed happily.

Sasuke had to fight to keep himself scowling; she was too happy to let himself scowl normally. He could feel the tips of his lips pulled into a smile. It must have looked rather awkward.

_You idiot, _he growled to himself. _You're just going to hurt her more by letting her get her hopes up! How are you going to live with yourself knowing that if you die, it will depress Sakura?_

"Sasuke…you know I love you," Sakura mumbled. "But I can't keep on living hoping that you'll like me. It's too painful."

_Idiot! Don't give in. If anything happens to her—emotionally or physically—you won't be able to live with yourself. _

But Sasuke, for some reason, no longer cared.

Ignoring his screaming pride and his disgruntled perseverance, he brought Sakura into a tight embrace. Sakura was surprised for a fraction of a second before sinking into Sasuke's chest, something she had wanted to do for too long.

"You know…if I die…you'll have to live without me, right?" Sasuke mumbled, wanting to make it clear to her the consequences of even wanting a relationship with him. Sakura pulled her head away from him, tears in her eyes.

"I know. That's what's making me love you more."


End file.
